The present invention relates generally to devices for supporting flexible electrical cables.
When electrical cables, such as data communication and power cables, extend over substantial distances, they must be properly supported at appropriately spaced intervals by some type of supporting device to avoid kinking, sharp bends, excessive sagging, and the like, that can cause damage to the cables and/or interfere with the transmission through the cables.
One known cable supporting bracket of this general type is disclosed in Perrault U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,131. This type of bracket has a "J" configuration and is generally referred to as "a J-Hook", and it includes a flat cable supporting surface formed with a curvature to contain the supported cable or cables, and a downwardly extending flange is provided at each outer edge of the flat cable supporting surface to strengthen the bracket. The corners between the flat supporting surface and the two downwardly extending flanges are rounded, and are intended to avoid exposing the supported cables to a sharp edge which might damage the cables.
Similarly, Laughlin U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,994 discloses a cable supporting bracket which also includes a flat cable supporting surface being formed with a curvature for containing the cable(s), and a stiffening or strengthening flange formed at each side edge of the flat supporting surface with rounded corners therebetween. However, in this bracket, the stiffening flanges extend downwardly and outwardly from the flat supporting surface at an angle of forty-five degrees, and this angle, combined with the rounded surface, also reduces the sharpness of the sharp corners or edges that might damage the supported cables.
While both of these known cable supports do reduce the sharpness of the edges, at least to some extent, they still present flat surfaces that extend in angular relationship to one another, and they still present an edge between the surfaces, all of which can result in the cables not being properly supported on a surface configuration that conforms to the curvature of the cables themselves.
Although these cable supports are mounted at spaced intervals from one another (e.g. 150 cm) to avoid excessive sagging of the cables, the weight of the cables nevertheless results in some sag between two adjacent cable supports, and this sag can result in the cable having a curvature at the points where it extends downwardly from both sides of the support brackets. Additionally, where the cable is somewhat stiff, it may assume a curvature as it extends over the flat supporting surface of the cable support, rather than lying flat on the flat support surface, and this lack of support, combined with the cable having to pass over the edges (albeit rounded edges) between the flat supporting surface and the flat stiffening flanges, can put undesirable stress on the supported cables.
Accordingly, there is a need for a cable supporting device which overcomes the aforesaid disadvantages of known devices of this type.